SRINIZINE

Last week, I bought a new toy for myself, a Canon A1100 IS ‘point and shoot’ camera. I wanted to try out the camera, so I took it with me when I went to Mylapore last Sunday. I ended up shooting various places of worship — the Ramakrishna Math, Kapaleeshwara temple, a Jain Temple, a mosque, a church, and the Swami Vivekananada memorial — all within a distance of 3.5 km.

Sri Ramakrishna Math Universal Temple, Mylapore, Chennai

Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore. A view of the eastern gopuram from inside the temple.

Shree Vasupujya Swami Jain Shwetamber Temple, a North Indian style Jain Temple in Kutchery Road, Mylapore.

Jumma Mosque, Kutchery Road, Mylapore.

Shrine of St. Thomas Basilica, built atop what is believed to be the tomb of St. Thomas.

Mahatma Gandhi going for a walk in the Marina Beach, Chennai. Let's walk along with him

Vivekaranandar Illam, or Vivekananda House is a building overlooking the beach. This is the place where Swami Vivekananda stayed when he visited Madras in 1897.

Statue of Swami Vivekananda near the Vivekananda House

So then, we end our little pilgrimage at the feet of Swami Vivekananda, who said,

The only God to worship is the human soul in the human body. Of course, all animals are temples too, but man is the highest, the greatest of all temples. If I cannot worship in that, no other temple will be of any advantage. The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him, that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

Visit my flickr photostream for more photos taken by me.